26 Harry K. Wolfe, 



Crimson and scarlet are, of course, red to nearly all 

 observers. It is nevertheless strange that with the real red 

 preceding these it occurred to so few children to assign other 

 names. Nearly all the terms used for these two tints denote 

 varieties of red. It is possible that more words were em- 

 ployed for crimson because scarlet always preceded it, and 

 the children may have attempted to avoid a repetition of red 

 by seeking other expressions. I am, however, inclined to 

 think that this circumstance had very little influence, for red 

 preceded scarlet, and many more terms were used for red 

 than for scarlet. The variety of names for crimson most 

 probably depends upon the peculiar nature of the color. 

 Scarlet is a bright red ; whereas the crimson used was dark, 

 much less positive, and hence permitted the application of 

 less definite names. 



Brown was surprisingly well named. Further than this it 

 offers little interest. Brown being rather a neutral color was 

 often used by children with weak eyes or little discrimination 

 for stronger shades, and especially for orange and violet. 



Lilac was correctly responded to by only nineteen children, 

 only two of whom were boys. Pink and purple claim the 

 larger share of the false answers. There seems to be no 

 apology possible for so many pinks. Indefinite ideas of pink, 

 together with poor discriminative power, must have been the 

 causes. The common idea of purple would allow lilac to be 

 called a light purple, and a sharper discrimination would have 

 brought more answers under this head. The incorrect terms 

 are quite numerous, and nearly all of them have some foun- 

 dation. A remarkable exception, however, must be noticed 

 in the case of lavender. More than fifty girls deceived them- 

 selves regarding the nature of this color, being at the same 

 time ignorant of the name or nature of lilac, else of both these. 



The replies to purple are pretty evenly divided between 

 purple and red ; wine and brown also receiving a good share. 

 The blue element may be considered as represented by the 

 few answers under that head. The frequent occurrence of 

 drab, and especially of brown, indicates very weak discrimi- 



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